I think the greatest common factor is the one I mark in the image, but wolfram gives me so many different answers I'm not sure if I am correct. My confidence is always shaken when wolfram gives me multiple results which may be all totally equivalent but which one is factored the most out of those?

Mar 25th 2013, 03:42 AM

Prove It

Re: Greatest common factor

The greatest common factor is the stuff outside the brackets in the answer you chose, and the answer you chose is the fully factorised form of your expression.

Mar 25th 2013, 03:52 AM

uperkurk

Re: Greatest common factor

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prove It

The greatest common factor is the stuff outside the brackets in the answer you chose, and the answer you chose is the fully factorised form of your expression.

Thanks for clearing that up, so the others are not completely factored? Or they are equally completely factored to the one I chose?

Mar 25th 2013, 04:02 AM

Prove It

Re: Greatest common factor

The other ones are not completely factored. You can check this yourself, can you see any other common factors inside the brackets that can be taken out?

Mar 25th 2013, 04:03 AM

uperkurk

Re: Greatest common factor

Oh yeh that was quite a silly question I just noticed as soon as I looked at it. Thanks very much.